Paperboard loading device for bacon containers



J- M. LOWE Dec. 19, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 8, 1959 ATTORNEYSJ. M. LOWE Dec. 19, 1961 PAPERBOARD LOADING DEVICE FOR BACON CONTAINERS2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. 8, 1959 ATTORNEYS United States Patent M3,013,886 PAPERBOARD LOADING DEVICE FOR BACON CONTAINERS John M. Lowe,Ottumwa, Iowa, assignor to John Morrell & (10., Ottumwa, Iowa, acorporation of Maine Filed Oct. 8, 1959, Ser. No. 845,268 1 Claim. (Cl.99-174) This invention relates to reclosable sleeve-type food packages,and more particularly to devices for supporting the food in suchpackages.

Foods such as bacon, sliced meats and the like are packaged in asleeve-type container having a transparent window in one face of thepackage, so that the contents may be readily viewed. These containersare supplied with tamper-proof ends, and some of them are supplied withtear strips or perforated end or side opening means. The opening,whether the side or the end of the container, has one dimension which isrelatively greater than the other so that the opening is merely a slot.

Containers furnished to the packing houses are provided with one end(consumer opening end) closed and sealed, and if the container has atear strip it is provided on this end. The other end of the package (theloading end) is open, and it is closed and sealed after the food hasbeen inserted in the container.

The present invention will be described with respect to loading acontainer for bacon, though it can be readily seen that it may beequally well used for loading containers for various kinds of slicedmeats or other foods. When the container is loaded with sliced bacon,the bacon should snugly fit the container between its bottom and thedisplay window top, so that the bacon will not become disarranged. It isnot necessary or desirable to have a snug fit between the contents andthe sides of the package, because the snugness between the top andbottom of the package will maintain the arrangement of the bacon.

The present invention is directed to a device for load ing food intoknown sleeve-type window containers by automatic machinery,semi-automatic machinery, or by hand.

. If the food were loaded directly into the container it would becomedisarr-anged, whether this is done by hand or by an automatic loadingmachine, since the interior of the box can be reached through the narrowslot-like loading end, only.

Where the bacon is arranged on paper or fiat paper board pallets andslidingly inserted in the box, it is a time-consuming manual operationbecause the bacon catches on the upper rim of the opening. When theopening is expanded, the ends of the bacon will pass the openingbut'they curl back at a point where the ends of the bacon strips come incontact with the top.

Where the bacon is placed in trays, difficulty is encountered inloading, particularly in automatic loading machines, since the upperedge of the container opening is not always entirely horizontal butoften is dished in enough for the upper edge of the front wall of thetray to catch on it and crush the container or the tray. Also, the endsof the bacon catch on the edge of the container opening or curl backafter they have passed the opening. From the consumers standpoint, it ishighly desirable to be able to tightly reclose the box after it has beenopened, since only a few strips of bacon are generally used at a time.Sleeve-type containers having tamper-proof opening ends or sides are notadapted to substantially effective reclosure.

Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide apaperboard loading device which insures the quick, easy insertion offood in a snug fitting sleeve-type container, without disarrangement ofthe food.

the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a sleeve-type window container havingthe food contents inserted in a paper- A board loading device of thepresent invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the container andloading tray, taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective View of the container shown in FIGURE 1, afterit has been opened by the consumer, and showing the use of the leadingend of the loading device as a recl'osure for the container;

FIGURE 4 shows a paperboard blank from which the loading device of thepresent invention is made;

FIGURE 5 is an end view of the loading end of a sleeve-type containerready for loading;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the loading deviceabout to be inserted in the sleeve-type container;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6, but showing the yielding of theleading wall and end protector flap upon contact with the edges of thecontainer opening;

FIGURE '8 is a view similar to FIGURES 6 and 7, showing the tendency ofthe leading wall of the loading device to erect itself after it haspassed the opening of the container; and

FIGURE 9 is a vertical sectional view of a loading device containing afood of less length than the container,

such as Canadian bacon.

Adverting now to the drawing, and particularly to FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 4,the paperboard loading device 10 of the present invention is for use inloading and reclosing a sleeve-type container 1 1, such as that shown inFIGURE 1. The container 11 has a top 12 having a window 13 oftransparent plastic and a bottom 14. The sides 15 of the container 11have a relatively minor height dimension with respect to the length andbreadth of the container, to provide a substantially flat package for apound of bacon, for instance. The container 11 is illustrative of knowntypes of sleeve-type containers having substantially tamper-proof endsand sides (tamperproofing not shown) and a means of readily opening anend or side, such as the tear strip 16 to open the consumer opening end17, orfby perforations, not shown, around one of the said ends or sides.These containers are provided at the loading station of a packing housewith the consumer opening end 17 closed and sealed, and the bacon isinserted through the loading end 18. As seen in FIGURE 5, the top 12 dueto the relatively large span, tends to sag intermediate the supportingsides 15, presenting an open loading end which is less than rectilinear.After the bacon is inserted in the container 11, the loading end 18 isclosed and sealed in the wellknown manner. V

The paperboard loading device 10 of the present invention comprises apallet portion 20 which is substantially the same length and width asthe bot-tom 14 and top 12 of the container 11, the width of the palletportion 20 being such that it has a free sliding fit within thecontainer 11 and will not bind. A leading end wall 21 1s hingedly joinedto one end of the pallet portion 20' by means of the score line 22. 'Afood-ends protector flap 23 is hingedly joined to the outer end of theend wall 21 by means of a score line 24.

The length of the leading end wall 21 is substantially equal to theinside height of the container 11, and it is of course as wide as thepallet portion 20, as may Patented Dec. 19, 1961' be seen in FIGURE 4.When the end 17 of the container 11 is removed by the consumer, theleading end wall 21 of the loading device 10 forms a closure for thecontainer 11 which serves to reclose the container after it has beenopened. After the end 17 of the container is torn oif leaving an endopening 25, the loading device 10 is slid partially out of the container11 and the desired amount of bacon is removed, The loading device 10 isthen returned to its former position in the container 11 and the foodends protector flap 23 serves as a guide during reclosing and africtional latch to hold the leading end wall 21 in a position normal tothe pallet portion 20.

Adverting now to FIGURES 6, 7 and 8, there is illustrated a paperboardloading device 10 of the present invention being inserted in a sleeve ortube type container 11. The end 18 of the container 11 is folded back toexpose an opening 26 in the end of the container. The upper edge 27 ofthe opening sags in the middle, and when the pusher (not shown) of anautomatic loading machine advances the loading device 10 into thecontainer, the leading end wall 21 adjacent the hinge line 22 contactsthe edge 27, as seen in FIGURE 7, and swings it at the hinge line 24rearward against the resiliency of the ends of the bacon, causing themto buckle at a point behind the opening, and raise the fiap 23. Thisresults in the leading end Wall 21 providing an incline which earns thesagging edge 27 upward. As seen in FIGURE 8, when the flap 23 hasentered the container 11, the pressure on the flap 23 reduces thebuckled bacon ends and swings the leading end wall 21 back substantiallyto its normal position. When the pusher has fully inserted the loadingdevice 10 in the container 11, the container is moved to a station wherethe end 18 is closed and sealed.

In FIGURE 9 there is shown an illustration of the use of the presentinvention for loading a sliced product in which the slices are of lesslength than the loading device 10, as in the case of Canadian bacon, forexample. The ends of the bacon adjacent the leading end wall 21 areprotected by the flap 23. The forward end of each subsequent slice isprotected by the trailing end of the preceding slice.

While there has been disclosed in the foregoing description a practicalembodiment of the paperboard loading device in accordance with thepresent invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the artthat variations in the implementation of the concept of the in ventionare within the purview and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A package of sliced foods comprising: a paperboard container enclosingsaid foods, said paperboard container including a cover having a top,bottom and vertical side walls forming a sleeve, said top and bottombeing of substantially greater width than the height of said side walls,said cover also having a consumer end wall and a loading end wall, tearmeans for opening said consumer end wall, a sliding pallet within saidcover receiving the sliced foods thereon, said pallet consisting of afiat supporting sheet slidably contacting the bottom of said cover, anintegral end wall contacting the consumer end wall, said end wall of thepallet also having an integral protection flap overlying said food, theconnection between the said end wall of the pallet and the fiatsupporting sheet of the pallet being a hinge connection, therebypermitting the end wall to pivot inwardly against the food duringloading of said pallet through the loading end of said cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,923,452 Neumiller Aug. 22, 1933 2,577,362 Shaw Dec. 11, 1951 2,668,403Rumsey Feb. 9, 1954 2,753,107 Ringler July 3, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS388,453 Great Britain Mar. 2, 1933

